Thursday, December 13, 2007

Maybe they could draw comics if their hands weren't always full of chocolate...

An actual conversation between me and a customer today:

Dude: It's weird to see girls reading comics.Me: Yeah, well, there are a lot of us.Dude: Because comics are usually for guys. It's an old boy's club.Me: Yes. It's changing.Dude (not listening to a word I say): There's never really been any women who write or draw comics.Me: Actually, there are quite a few.Dude: It'd be something to see a woman drawing comics like a man.Me: There are women drawing comics, er...like a man. (Go into detail talking about Amanda Conner).Dude (ignoring me): Yeah, it'd be something to see a woman draw a comic.Me: Is this...a prank?Dude: Because women don't really like violence and men like violence.Me (considering stabbing him): I like violence.Dude: It'd be something if a woman was writing comics.Me: THERE ARE WOMEN WRITING COMICS!Dude: Mainstream comics, I mean. Like the ones men like.Me (deep breath): Gail Simone is currently the main writer on The Atom, Wonder Woman, and a number of titles for Wildstorm.Dude: A woman took over Doom Patrol after Morrison, and it went downhill. And a woman wrote Swamp Thing after what's-his-name, and it went downhill...Me: Well, I think it's hard for anyone to follow ALAN MOORE or Grant Morrison.Dude: Any woman?Me: NO. AnyONE. Anyone at all.Dude: Women can't really draw the way that men like.Me: ....Dude (hauling random volume of Swamp Thing off shelf, opening to random page): Like this...now, I know this is a scary picture...Me: Uh, yeah...I love that series. It's really good. I'm sure a woman somewhere on Earth can draw that page.Dude: Can you imagine? If a woman could draw that.Me (REALLY wishing I could draw that so I could just throw down): I...no. No I can't imagine that. It's just too crazy. Please close that book now. That picture is making me faint with terror.

That is so outrageous that I'd suspect you'd made it up... except I think I met this guy in front of the comics shelf at the Memphis Public Library last night night. 'Cuz there couldn't possibly me more than one of these people, could there?

Rachelle, my sweet, I feel your pain. I've had a similar experience, although not quite to the same degree of idiocy that you experienced.

All of which just explains my husband's theory of the world. In dealing with the public, 90% of them are assholes. The remaining 10% are FLAMING assholes, and unfortunately, those are the ones that we seem to run into the most.

The argument was so dumb that it wasn't even worth getting into it with the guy. He's just an idiot.

Not only was this guy arguing this point to a woman working in a comic shop, I was standing next to another woman working in the comic shop. And I was also surrounded by comics written and/or drawn by women.

It's amazing how many times I've heard people try to use Rachel Pollack's (admittedly not good) run on Doom Patrol as some kind of proof positive that women can't do comics good. I guess it doesn't occur to her that she may not necessarily be indicative of 50% of the world's capacity to make comics.

There ARE way too few women writing and drawing comics...if by "comics" that dude meant mainstream DCU and Marvel Universe comics.

Like, is Gail Simone the ONLY writer on an ongoing super-comic from Marvel or DC right now? I'm having trouble thinking of another...at least, a solo writer.

And I can't think of any female artist on a DCU or MU ongoing super-comic at the moment. Is Nicola Scott a woman? (I never like to assume, ever since I was 15 and learned Kelley Jones was a man).

Of course, if by "comics" dude meant "comics" well then, yeah, that's not only pretty dumb, it's reaaalllly dumb since he's, like, in a comic shop full of stuff written by, drawn by and written AND drawn by women, I'm sure.

One good thing about your conversation with that dude though, is it made me laugh when I read it online later so...some good came of it.

Wait... Rachel Pollack's run on Doom Patrol was *good*. It only suffers due to the fact that she was following Grant Morrison. I mean, look at Animal Man: one crazy, fun storyline after GM left and then a slow descent into Vertigo mediocrity. Gender hardly comes into it.

Nicola Scott is not only a woman, but in fact is an autralian super-model. Which, I believe, would be very much the ultimate idealization of womankind for this sort of individual. I don't know if there's any irony in that, but I choose to believe there is . . .